Seventeen people were killed and more than 10 others injured on Tuesday evening when a bus and a heavy truck severely collided on a road outside the central Iranian city of Borujerd, reported the official Iranian news agency (IRNA).

The accident took place when the bus, en route to Borujerd from Tehran, crashed head-on into the truck.

Fourteen people were said to have been killed on the spot while three others succumbed to their injuries in hospital, said the agency.

Iranian roads are notorious for fatal accidents, with one person killed or injured on average every 40 minutes and seven minutes, respectively. Some 200,000 accidents are reported annually, in which over 15,000 people are killed and 87,000 injured.

According to traffic experts, dilapidated vehicles and the carelessness of drivers are the main cause of the high death toll in road accidents in Iran – Albawaba.com